European Commission declares Poland no longer at risk of serious breach of rule of law

Brussels – Full confidence by the European Commission in the good will of Donald Tusk’s Polish government. Following the action plan presented by Warsaw in February in response to the long-running dispute over the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, the EU executive has announced its intention to close the procedure under Article 7 of the EU Treaty, the one for which Brussels has kept frozen for years over a hundred billion in EU funds earmarked for Poland.

Having completed its analysis, the Commission found that there is no longer “a clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law in Poland”. All that was needed was a strong statement of intent from the new pro-European government of the popular Tusk, which “recognized the primacy of EU law and pledged to implement all rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights related to the rule of law, including judicial independence”.

The adoption of a clear program and the fact that Poland “has taken the first concrete steps to implement the action plan” (even though the reform proposal of Poland’s Justice Minister, Adam Bodnar, is still awaiting parliamentary approval) have convinced Ursula von der Leyen to end the dispute. “Today marks a new chapter for Poland. After more than six years, we believe that the Article 7.1 procedure can be closed. I congratulate Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his government on this important breakthrough; it is the result of their hard work and determined reform efforts,” said the chairwoman of the European Commission.

EU executive spokesman responsible for the rule of law, Christian Wigand, stressed that since the procedure was triggered in 2017, “this is the first time we have seen a clear commitment” from the Polish authorities. To formally withdraw the reasoned proposal to activate Article 7, EU Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová sent an information note to the European Parliament and the EU Council and will present the assessment at the next General Affairs Council meeting on May 21. After that, taking into account any comments from EU ministers, the Commission “intends to proceed with the withdrawal of the reasoned proposal.”

However, in the past few months—a testament to the relaxation of relations between Brussels and Warsaw after Tusk took office—the European Commission had already unfrozen €76.5 billion from the Cohesion Funds and €6.3 billion from the Next Generation Eu for Poland, part of the total 137 billion frozen by the EU. The required conditions, related to specific rule of law reforms, “had already been met,” Wigand specified again during the daily briefing with the European press. The EU executive will continue to “regularly monitor” the measures in the Polish action plan, as well as other initiatives to promote the rule of law in Poland.